High alert sounded in held Kashmir

A high alert was on Monday sounded in the city in the run-up to the seventh and last phase of assembly polls scheduled for December 24, a top police officer said. Inspector General of Police (IGP) (Jammu) K Rajendra Kumar said that a high alert has been sounded in Jammu and "searches are being carried out at all checkposts and hotels." Kumar added that some suspects have been rounded-up by the police and are being questioned. All required steps have been taken to ensure free and fair polls on December 24, he said. On U.S. and U.N. terrorism lists, Lashkar was set up to fight Indian rule in Kashmir and was also blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which took India and Pakistan to the brink of a fourth war the following year. Washington and London have also asked Pakistan to act against such groups and offered both countries help in the fight against Islamist militancy. But they have also urged restraint from India in its response to the attacks. Pakistan has arrested scores of activists from an Islamic charity India says is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, but a similar crackdown after the 2001 Indian parliament attack was widely regarded as a sham. India has also been angered by Pakistan's apparent flip-flop over the whereabouts of the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, another militant group. Islamabad has said it did not know the location of Maulana Masood Azhar, after earlier saying he was under house arrest.